Note: Many English words have two accents, the primary and
the secondary; the primary being uttered with a greater
stress of voice than the secondary; as in as'pira"tion,
where the chief stress is on the third syllable, and a
slighter stress on the first. Some words, as
an'tiap'o-plec"tic, in-com'pre-hen'si-bil"i-ty, have
two secondary accents. See Guide to Pron., [th][th]
30-46.
2. A mark or character used in writing, and serving to
regulate the pronunciation; esp.:
(a) a mark to indicate the nature and place of the spoken
accent;
(b) a mark to indicate the quality of sound of the vowel
marked; as, the French accents.
Note: In the ancient Greek the acute accent (') meant a
raised tone or pitch, the grave (`), the level tone or
simply the negation of accent, the circumflex ( ~ or ^)
a tone raised and then depressed. In works on
elocution, the first is often used to denote the rising
inflection of the voice; the second, the falling
inflection; and the third (^), the compound or waving
inflection. In dictionaries, spelling books, and the
like, the acute accent is used to designate the
syllable which receives the chief stress of voice.
3. Modulation of the voice in speaking; manner of speaking or
pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of
the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent; a French or a
German accent. ``Beguiled you in a plain accent.'' --Shak.
``A perfect accent.'' --Thackeray.
The tender accent of a woman's cry. --Prior.
4. A word; a significant tone; (pl.) expressions in general;
speech.
Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear,
Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear. --Dryden.
5. (Pros.) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.
6. (Mus.)
(a) A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the
beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the
measure.
(b) A special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part
of the measure.
(c) The rhythmical accent, which marks phrases and
sections of a period.
(d) The expressive emphasis and shading of a passage. --J.
S. Dwight.
7. (Math.)
(a) A mark placed at the right hand of a letter, and a
little above it, to distinguish magnitudes of a
similar kind expressed by the same letter, but
differing in value, as y', y[sec].
(b) (Trigon.) A mark at the right hand of a number,
indicating minutes of a degree, seconds, etc.; as,
12'27[sec], i. e., twelve minutes twenty seven
seconds.
(c) (Engin.) A mark used to denote feet and inches; as, 6'
10[sec] is six feet ten inches.
2. To mark emphatically; to emphasize.